Best Selling Books by Ted Hughes

A collection of 144 letters between Hughes and the literary critic Sagar provides insight into the poet''s life and creative process, including his relationship with Sylvia Plath.

The achievement of Ted Hughes as a poet is inseparable from his achievement as a translator of poetry and poetic drama. Throughout a long and intensely productive career, Hughes was continuously engaged in acts of translation, for the page and for the stage, starting with his role in the establishment of the annual Poetry International in London and the magazine Modern Poetry in Translation, which he co-founded with Daniel Weissbort in 1965, and which notably brought to attention poets such as the Israeli Yehuda Amichai, the Hungarian Janos Pilinszky and the Yugoslav Vasko Popa. The present volume, edited by Weissbort, surveys this aspect of Hughes''s canon for the first time, offering a broad selection from his numerous translations, together with hitherto unpublished material (versions of Paul Eluard, or of Yves Bonnefoy), and excerpts from essays and letters. Strongly rooted in a native tradition, Hughes was nevertheless indebted to literary cultures other than his own, and his work far transcends national boundaries. The present volume selects from his versions from a wide variety of ancient texts - the Tibetan Book of the Dead, Aeschylus, Euripides, Ovid, Seneca, Racine - and equally from a range of twentieth century European poets and dramatists.

In "The Mermaid''s Purse, Ted Hughes explores the ocean. From starfish and seagulls to mermaids and monsters, 28 poems capture the beauty, drama, and mystery of the sea and the seashore. Here is the ghostly cormorant: "Drowned fishermen come back/As famished cormorants/With bare and freezing webby toes/Instead of boots and pants." The strange and comical flounder: "The flounder sees/Through crooked eyes./Through crooked lips/The flounder cries." And the mermaid herself: "Call her a fish, /Call her a girl./Call her the pearl/Of an oyster fresh/On its pearly dish." By turns lyrical, whimsical, and robust, "The Mermaid''s Purse showcases the distinctive voice and appreciation of the natural world that made Ted Hughes among the most respected of late-20th-century poets. Made doubly accessible by Flora McDonnell''s distinctive black-and-white art, this sea-themed collection will delight children and be welcomed by educators.

Mankind for has polluted the seas, lakes and rivers. The Iron Woman has come to take revenge. Lucy understands the Iron Woman''s rage and she too wants to save the water creatures from their painful deaths. But she also wants to save her town from total destruction. She needs help. Who better to call on but Hogarth and the Iron Man . . .? A sequel and companion volume to Ted Hughes'' The Iron Man, this new, child-friendly setting will be treasured by a new generation of readers.

A sequence of poems and drawings which capture the essence of the lonely, mysterious creatures who struggle to survive under the North Star.

This volume replaced Ted Hughes''s Selected Poems 1957-1981. It contains a larger selection from the same period, to which are added poems from more recent books, uncollected poems from each decade of Ted Hughes''s writing life, and some new work. Another notable feature is the inclusion of poems from his books for younger readers, What is the Truth? and Season Songs.

Here are 28 whimsical, lyrical, and robust animal poems from one of the twentieth century''s most celebrated poets. The mole, the cat, the squirrel, the donkey, and others make memorable appearances, accompanied by striking duotone artwork. Acutely observed, accessible, and surprising, this is perfect for children learning to love poetry.

In this series, a contemporary poet selects and introduces a poet of the past. By their choice of poems and by the personal and critical reactions they express in their prefaces, the editors offer insights into their own work as well as providing an accessible and passionate introduction to some of the greatest poets in our literature.Ted Hughes (1930-98) was born in Yorkshire. His first book, The Hawk in the Rain, was published in 1957. His last collection, Birthday Letters, was published in 1998 and won the Whitbread Book of the Year, the Forward Prize and the T. S. Eliot Prize. He was appointed Poet Laureate in 1984 and appointed to the Order of Merit in 1998.

Ted Hughes''s critically acclaimed creation stories for children appear here in one collected volume for the first time. These are mesmerising tales from a master storyteller about the creatures around us - how they came to be the shape that they are, and why they behave as they do. The stories span the age range from 4 to 14 and are ideal for reading out loud and sharing amongst the family.

Blood Wedding is based upon a newspaper fragment which told of a family vendetta and a bride who ran away with the son of the enemy family. Lorca uses the story to investigate subjects which fascinated him such as desire, repression and ritual.

Brings together three short pieces written in homage to T.S. Eliot. The three pieces were prompted, in turn, by the unveiling of a plaque, by a reading of The Waste Land in a London theatre, and by a centenary dinner.

In fantastical verse the author introduces his sister, brother, mother, father, and other members of his family.

A very ordinary boy. Nobody noticed him, he was just like everyone else. But Fred knew he was different. He just didn''t know quite how different. And when he did.... Well, what then?

Sylvia Plath is one of the defining voices in twentieth-century poetry. This classic selection of her work, made by her former husband Ted Hughes, provides the perfect introduction to this most influential of poets. The poems are taken from Sylvia Plath''s four collections Ariel, The Colossus, Crossing the Water and Winter Trees, and include many of her most celebrated works, such as ''Daddy'', ''Lady Lazarus'' and ''Wuthering Heights''.

Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster, is tired of being told that she doesn''t exist. In this crackling, lolloping story in verse, Ted Hughes describes how she sets out on the road to London for an audience with the Queen...

A work of criticism argues that the entire Shakespearean corpus can be seen as one huge, complex, ever-evolving work that stems from a mixture of the Bard''s two early poems: "Venus and Adonis" and "The Rape of Lucrece."

A commentary on the author''s own poem ''Crow''s song about Prospero and Sycorax''.

From Ted Hughes, England''s Poet Laureate, Knopf is proud to present a children''s classic which has been unavailable in the U.S. for many years. First published in 1968, The Iron Giant is a modern fantasy about a massive giant who stalks the earth devouring metal, terrifying farmers and townspeople everywhere. Despite his insatiable hunger, the Iron Giant is quite gentle and good-natured, though the townspeople are too frightened of him to realize it. So they capture him and put him in a scrapyard, where he happily stuffs himself with stoves and bicycles. The people forget about the Iron Giant until a space-bat the size of Australia hovers over the earth, poised to destroy it. Earth needs a hero and only the Iron Giant is big enough and brave enough to do battle with the hideous creature from outer space. With a tractor-eating giant, a menacing space-bat, and a young boy-hero, The Iron Giant is an accessible, early chapter book with plenty of appeal for reluctant readers and budding science fiction and fantasy fans.

In 1984, Ted Hughes author of Lupercal and Crow, was made Poet Laureate. This collection of five poems written after his appointment includes depictions of events such as the birth of Prince Harry as an example of his vision of royalty and nationhood. This is a signed, limited edition.